Wheel chair



United States Patent 3,495,869 WHEEL CHAIR Curt Adils Ingemansson,Brody, Sweden Filed Sept. 8, 1967, Ser. No. 666,313 Int. Cl. A61g 5/00;A47c 1/035 US. Cl. 297-71 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Thisinvention relates to a wheel chair designed for the use of sick and oldpersons, in that it can be readily converted to a horizontal supportingstructure with a view to facilitate the removal of the patient from hisbed to the wheel chair and to wheel him in a horizontal, semiinclined orsitting position.

The wheel chair according to the invention is generally characterized inthat it comprises a chassis frame with caster wheels and provided with asource of power, such as a hydraulic unit, and a supporting structurewhich consists of two end supporting members forming a back rest and aleg rest respectively of the wheel chair and a horizontal intermediatesupporting member forming the seat of the wheel chair and being pivotedto the end supporting members and by means of the source of poweradapted to be vertically adjusted on the chassis frame. One of said endsupporting members is connected to the chassis frame and to the oppositeend supporting member, so that the end supporting members upon raisingof the intermediate supporting member are simultaneously compulsorilyset either in true horizontal alignment with the intermediate supportingmember or in an optional inclined positioned wtih respect to theintermediate supporting member.

For converting the wheel chair to a horizontal supporting structure orto a comfortable easy-chair, it is therefore only necessary, by means ofthe source of power, to raise the intermediate supporting member to adesired level, whereupon the end supporting members, owing to theirinterconnection and to the connection of one of the end supportingmembers to the chassis frame, for instance by means of connecting rods,will automatically swing to a horizontal position or to an angularlyinclined position.

The three supporting members will be in a true horizontal alignment onlywhen the intermediate supporting member is raised to its topmostposition. However, occasions occur when it is necessary to rapidly laythe patient on his back from a sitting or semi-inclined position, forinstance when in case of sudden illness, heart affections etc. Accordingto a further aspect of the invention, such a rapid adjustment may beaccomplished in that the connection rod connecting one of the endsupporting members to the chassis frame consists of an upper portion anda lower portion which are interconnected by means I 3,495,869 PatentedFeb. 17, 1970 Other and more specific details of the preferred form ofthe invention will be described in connection with the accompanyingdrawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation view of the wheel chair with the supportingmembers in their normal sitting position and two horizontal positions Aand B of the supporting members indicated by chain dotted lines.

FIGURE 2 is a front view of the seat of the wheel chair.

FIGURE 3 is a view from behind of a detail of the wheel chair.

The chassis of the wheel chair consists of a frame 51 of tubes and isprovided with four lockable caster wheels 50. On the underside the frame51 is provided with a clamping member 52 which, by means of a bolt 53,is braced around the vertical cylinder 54 of a hydraulic unit generallyindicated at 55 which is operated by a foot pedal 56. A bolt 57 isscrewed into a bore in the cover of the hydraulic unit housing 55 andengages an opening in a horizontal plate 58 mounted on the frame 51, andthe underside of the bolt head 58 is in close contact with the top-sideof the plate. Thus, when the bolt 53 of the clamping member 52 has beenloosened and the bolt 57 is turned, the hydraulic unit 55 will belowered or raised on the chassis frame 51, and in this way the wheelchair can be adapted to beds at different levels. After lowering orraising the hydraulic unit 55 the bolt 53 of the clamping member 52 mustagain be firmly tightened.

The piston rod 60 of the hydraulic cylinder 54, which is indicated bychain dotted lines in the position A, is provided at its top end with ahorizontal rectangular frame 61, which supports the intermediatesupporting member or seat of the wheel chair. The seat is generallyindicated at 62 and is pivoted to the end supporting members, viz theback rest generally indicated at 63 and the leg rest generally indicatedat 64.

The seat 62 comprises a frame 65, to the rear and forward ends of whicha back rest frame 68 and a leg rest frame 69 are pivoted by means oftransverse shafts 66 and 67 respectively. In the back rest frame 68 ismounted a plate 70 with cushion, and to the back of the plate there arerigidly attached two tubular and downwards extending arms 71 which arebent at an obtuse angle. The lower ends of the arms 71 are connected, bymeans of joints generally indicated at 72, to a horizontal yokeextending under the seat 62 with a leg 73 of the yoke on each side ofthe cylinder 54. The forward end 74 of the yoke is provided with an arm75 which is screwed into a bushing 91. The bushing 91 is pivoted, bymeans of a joint 76, to a lug 77 on the back of a plate 78 with cushionmounted in the leg rest frame 69.

FIGURE 3 shows the right-hand joint 72 as viewed from behind. Each joint72 comprises a transverse shaft 79, which is carried in a horizontalbearing bushing 8011 at the lower end of the arm 71 and in a horizontalbearing bushing 80b at the rear end of the respective horizontal yokeleg 73. The frame 61 on each side is provided with a bolt 81 which isdirected downwards and situated in the same vertical plane as thebearing bushing 80b. The bolt head 82 acts as a stop which limits themovement of the supporting members exactly in a position in which theyare in true horizontal alignment.

The top ends of the arms 71 and the top end of a connection rodgenerally indicated at 84 are pivoted to the back rest by way of a joint83. The lower end of the connection rod 84 is pivoted to the housing ofthe hydraulic unit 55 by means of a joint 85. The connection rod 84comprises an upper portion 86 and a lower portion 87 which are pivotallyinterconnected by means of a joint 8. Normally, the joint 88 is coveredby a sleeve 89 which is slidably mounted on the connection rod and inits covering position rests upon shoulders 90 on the lower portion 87 inorder to prevent a pivotal movement of the portions. If the sleeve 89 ismoved upwards to a position in which it uncovers the joint 88, theportions 86, 87 can be set in an angular position C indicated by chaindotted lines.

The upper portion 86 is tubular and provided at its top end withinternal threads into which there is screwed a pin 92 which is pivotedto the back rest by means of the joint 83.

In the seat frame 65 is mounted a plate 94 with cushion 93 which at itsrear end is pivotally supported by the transverse shaft 66. The forwardpart of the plate 94 rests on the rear edge of an inclined plate 95.which transversely extends under the plate 94 and at its forward end ispivotally supported by a horizontal transverse shaft 96 mounted on aspacer block 97 between the rectangular frame 62 and the seat frame 65.The rear part of the plate 95 rests on the top end of a vertical shaft98 which is vertically adjustable in a threaded bore in the spacer block97 and at its lower end provided with a hand Wheel 99. By turning theshaft 98 the seat plate 93, 94 can be set in any desired inclinedposition.

Each side portion of the seat frame 65 is provided with two verticalopenings for the attachment of the arm rests of the wheel chair. Eacharm rest consists of an approximately rectangular frame, the lowerportion 100 of which is provided with a cylindrical pin 102 with areduced projection 101 and a transverse yoke 103. The arm rest isattached to the seat frame 65 by inserting the reduced projection 101into the forward opening in the frame 65, so that the yoke 103 willstraddle the side portion of the seat frame. As shown in the drawing,the upper portion 104 of the arm rest is somewhat inclined backwards. Byturning the arm rest and inserting the reduced projection 101 into theback opening in the seat frame 65 the upper side portion 104 of the armrest will be inclined in the opposite direction.

As shown in FIGURE 2, the upper side portion 104 and the lower sideportion 100 are situated in different vertical planes, since the forwardand back portions 105 are slightly curved. By turning or shifting thearm rests they will receive the positions shown by chain dotted lines inFIGURE 2, so that the distance between the upper side portions 104 willbe considerably reduced. In this way the arm rests can be adapted to themore or less voluminous body of the patient using the wheel chair.

The leg rest frame 69 is provided with a separate foot rest frame 106which is telescopically adjustable in the leg rest frame by means of aspindle with a hand Wheel 107 at either side of the wheel chair.

In operation, when the patient should be removed from his bed to, forinstance, a day room in a hospital, the seat 62 is raised by means ofthe hydraulic unit 55 from the normal sitting position shown with fulllines in FIG- URE 1. Since the back rest 63 is connected to the chassisframe 51 (via the hydraulic unit 55) by way of the connection rod 84,the back rest will swing clockwise (according to FIGURE 1) until it isin true horizontal alignment with the raised seat 62. The yoke 73 willbe pushed to the left by means of the arms 71 and simultaneously raised,so that the bearing bushings 80b abut the bolt heads 82 exactly when thesupporting members 62 and 63 are horizontally aligned. Also the leg rest64 will swing clockwise by way of the arm 75 until it is horizontallyaligned with the seat and the back rest, so that the three supportingmembers will form a horizontal supporting structure at the level A. Aspreviously described this leved A can be adapted to the level of theactual patients bed by vertical adjustment of the hydraulic unit 55 inrelation to the chassis frame 51, so that the horizontal supportingstructure 62-64 overlaps the bed and the patient, after removal of theadjacent arm rest, can readily be transferred from the bed to the wheelchair.

After attachment of the arm rest the seat 62 is lowered by means of thehydraulic unit 55, so that the back portion 63 and the leg portion 64will swing counter-clockwise (according to FIGURE 1) to the full lineposition (or to an intermediate position) and the patient will be raisedto sitting or semi-inclined position.

Independent of the level of the seat 62 it is possible to rapidly lay asitting or semi-inclined patient on his back in horizontal positionwithout operation of the hydraulic unit 55. Such a rapid adjustmentsometimes may be necessary in case of sudden illness, heart affectionsetc. and is accomplished by moving the sleeve 89 upwards on the upperportion 86 of the connection rod 84 in order to uncover the joint 88,and simultaneously breaking the connection rod 84 to the position C. Theback rest 63 and the leg rest 64 will then swing clockwise to horizontalalignment with the seat 62 at the level B.

The wheel chair can also be equipped with a manual control, by means ofwhich the patient himself can adjust the supporting members 6264.

Other embodiments may be made of this inventive concept, andmodifications may be made in the embodiment hereinbefore shown anddescribed, and it is to be understood that all matters herein are to beinterpreted merely as illustrative, and not limiting.

I claim:

1. In a wheel chair comprising a chassis frame having caster wheels andprovided with a source of power and a supporting structure consisting ofend supporting members forming a back rest and a leg rest respectivelyand a horizontal intermediate supporting member forming the seat of thewheel chair and pivoted to said end supporting members and adapted to bevertically adjusted on the chassis frame by means of said source ofpower, one of said end supporting members being connected to the chassisframe and to the opposite end supporting member so that the endsupporting members upon raising of the intermediate supporting memberare simultaneously set in horizontal alignment with the intermediatesupporting member, the improvement in which the end supporting memberforming the back rest is connected to the chassis frame by means of afirst connection rod consisting of an upper portion and a lower portioninterconnected by a joint, the rod being provided with an axiallyslidable sleeve which is adjustable to a position in which the joint isuncovered by the sleeve, the intermediate supporting member for-ming theseat being provided with a stop which cooperates with a second connection rod between the end supporting members in the horizontalposition of the supporting structure.

2. A wheel chair, according to claim 1, wherein the intermediatesupporting member is provided with a stop which cooperates with theconnection rod between the end supporting members in the horizontalposition of the supporting structure.

3. A wheel chair, according to claim 2, wherein the stop is verticallyadjustable.

4. A wheel chair, according to claim 1, wherein the intermediatesupporting member comprises a frame which is pivoted to' the endsupporting members and provided with a seat plate which is pivoted atits rear end to a transverse shaft and is adjustable in inclinedpositions.

5. In a wheel chair according to claim 1, the improvement in which saidfirst connection rod is coupled to the chassis frame by means of thesource of power, which is vertically adjustable in relation to thechassis frame.

6. In a wheel chair according to claim 5, the improvement in which thesource of power is a hydraulic unit having a cylinder, and the chassisframe is provided with a clamping member adapted to be braced around thecylinder of the hydraulic unit.

7. In a wheel chair according to claim 5, the improvement in which thehydraulic unit is provided with a vertically adjustable stop memberwhich cooperates with the chassis frame for the adjustment of the levelof the 2,694,437 11/1954 Glaser 28034 hydraulic unit in relation to thechassis frame. 2,869,614 1/ 1959 Wamsley 280-'230 8. In a wheel chairaccording to claim 6, the improve- 3,038,174 6/1962 Brown et a1. 5-63merit in which the hydraulic unit is provided with a ver- 3,142,5097/1964 Ehrke et a1 29771 XR tically adjustable stop member whichcooperates with 5 3,147,039 9/1964 Smith et al 2979O the chassis framefor the adjustment of the level of the hydraulic unit in relation to thechassis frame. BOBBY R, GAY, Primary Examiner References Cited GLENN O.FINCH, Assistant Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 10 US 2,609,862 9/1952Pratt 297347 S 81; 29791, 330

2,587,068 2/1952 Sanders 5-81

